There and Back Again (A Disney Tale)

For Ethan's Birthday this year, we decided to take a family vacation to Disneyland! Since Ethan loves everything Disney (except the Pixar logo, but that's another story), we figured his fifth birthday would be the perfect time for him to meet some of his heroes. Jen hadn't been to Disneyland since she was 11. Kyle, Ethan, and Brooklyn had never been before. We invited Grandma and Grandpa Taylor to come along as well, both to show us around and to keep an extra set of eyes on the kids.

We were originally planning on driving to California, but after finding $120 round trip plane tickets, it was a no-brainer that we would fly instead. When we first told the kids, they were both nervous about flying. After a little convincing (thank you, YouTube videos of other kids flying), they changed their tune, and were excited to fly.

After a close call at the airport (we made our flight by about 10 minutes)because of extra long lines and issues with parking, we were on the plane and flying to Disneyland! Both the kids did really well - it helped that Grandma Taylor sat next to them and had all kinds of things to keep them busy.

The Long Beach Airport is much smaller than Salt Lake, and we got to get off of the plane and go down the ramp.

After a quick shuttle ride from the airport, we checked into our hotel, and headed over to the park. We flew out of Salt Lake at 8:30 am, and were at Disneyland within an hour of the park opening!

The first ride we went on was one of Ethan's favorites - The Astro Blaster (or as Ethan calls it, the Buzz Lightyear ride).

The kids both loved driving cars all by themselves! (If you look closely, you can see Ethan's head peeking over the edge of the dashboard)
After the cars, we went on the Finding Nemo submarine ride. The Kids loved going under the water and seeing the fish from Nemo. When the ride was finished, though, the music from the Finding Nemo credits came over the PA. Ethan started getting scared that the Pixar logo was about to show up outside of the submarine, and pinched off his ears and closed his eyes until we were safely off the submarine.

(Unfortunately, at this point our camera ran out of batteries and we didn't get any pictures for the rest of the first day.)

We went to meet Mickey at his house in Toon town. Ethan was really excited about this. He wanted to get some mouse ears and take them back to show Mickey the next day.

The second day was filled with rides and both Disneyland and California Adventure.

Winnie the Pooh Ride

Riverboat Ride

The Little Mermaid Ride

Ethan and Brooklyn as Toy Story toys. We happened to go to Disneyland on Leap Year Day (Feb 29), which was the first time in about 25 years that they had the park open for 24 hours. This was a big deal for some people. We stood in line with a couple of girls who had been waiting in line since 8:30 the previous evening, 10 hours before the park even opened for their 24-hour stint. We could tell when school got out in the afternoon because it started getting busier and busier as the evening went on.

Grandpa Taylor stayed with the kids and slept while Kyle, Jen, and Grandma Taylor went out to party. The park was SOOO crowded, this is one of the three attractions we did. No, this isn't the Dumbo ride, this is place designated to take pictures with Dumbo. We also went to the Tiki Room which had no real wait (surprise, surprise) and on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which was only a half hour wait (any other time during our trip we could walk right on).

We were sad that Cars Land was still under construction, scheduled to be opened later this year. Were were able to get a sneak peak from the top of Mickey's Ferris Wheel, though. It looks like a lot of fun! It looks really big and just like Radiator Springs out of the movie Cars.

One of our favorite things to do was let Ethan meet his heroes. He asked for the better part of the morning to go and find Woody. We finally found where he was hanging out, and Ethan was super-excited to meet him.

Ethan got to touch McQueen and Mater. Afterwards, he told us a secret - McQueen felt like a real race car, and Mater felt like a real tow truck!

While waiting in line for the Toy Story Mania ride, we saw Jessie walking by. She was busy with some other kids, and we moved forward in the line without getting to say "hi." We thought we lost our chance, but a minute later she came and sought Ethan out. She gave him a big hug and two kisses! He was thrilled! Afterward, he bashfully said, "Jessie gave me two kisses!"

We all had a really great time at Disneyland. Ethan was the perfect age, and was tall enough to go on most of the rides. Brooklyn was probably a little bit too young, and didn't get to go on everything, but she still had a lot of fun.

(Ethan was just looking at this picture, and said,"I really like Walt Disney's haircut." lol)

After our adventure, we asked the kids what their favorite rides were.

Ethan liked "The Fastest Train in the West" (Thunder Mountain), as well Buzz ride and Toy Story Mania, of course.

Brooklyn liked Pirates of the Caribbean best, but also loved The Little Mermaid ride.

Part of the way through our trip Kyle noticed he couldn't find our van keys. Thankfully, someone turned them in to the airport in Salt Lake on the first day of our trip. In all the chaos at the airport they must have gotten left at the security check point. Dear person who turned them in, we are eternally grateful!